Fill Out the Financial Disclosure Affidavit

About the CourtFormPrep Program

The CourtFormPrep program will help you fill out the small claims financial disclosure form which is called an “affidavit.” An affidavit is a sworn statement. You should use this program if at least one of the following is true:

the court orders you to fill out a Financial Disclosure Affidavit

someone has a judgment against you in small claims court and they have asked the court to enforce the judgment

you have been sued in small claims court and agree you owe the money, but can’t pay the judgment

you are being sued in small claims court and you want to let the court know that your income is protected

Information Checklist

your income information, including information about any Reach Up, Social Security, Veterans Benefits or other public benefits you receive

information about any valuable thing that you own (your assets)

information about the income and benefits for any other person in your household

information about the assets that people in your household own

information about your expenses and bills you pay

information about your household’s expenses and bills

You will need income and expense information for everyone in your “household.” A household is a group of people living together and sharing common living space and expenses. It doesn’t matter if they are related to you or not.

If you are living with someone and pooling resources together to pay for things like rent, food and utilities, you are both part of your household. Your dependent children are part of your household, too.

Adults who live together but have separate finances may have separate households. Examples of people who may not be included in your household could include:

an adult child who only pays rent to you (then the rent will be part of your income)

a person who only rents a room from you (this rent will be part of your income)

an unrelated roommate who only splits the rent with you (then your expenses are only half the rent)

divorcing spouses who have separated their finances

Before you start this interview, you should pull together the household income and expenses information. If you would like to look at the form before you start, you can find the Financial Disclosure Affidavit form online.

Small claims court is designed for people who are representing themselves. You can hire a lawyer if you want to, but you are not required to hire a lawyer. If you decide to represent yourself in small claims court, you can get more information about what you will need to do and how small claims court works by reading: